Train Service Between The Germanys To Double

GermanRail, the West German network, says that by next month it will increase by almost fivefold the number of trains between West and East Germany.

The rail service announced that on May 27 it would add 165 daily trains to the existing 37 between West and East Germany.

InterCity service is scheduled to make express runs between Frankfurt and Leipzig, via Bebra-Gerstungen. Service on slower InterRegio trains is planned between Cologne and Berlin via Hanover, Munich and Leipzig and Nuremberg and Leipzig.

The rail service says it plans to improve tracks so trains can travel faster on the Hanover-Berlin route.

Service is being introduced on these routes (with the West German towns listed first): Munich and East Berlin (Lichtenberg); Hof and Karl-Marx-Stadt; Mainz and Erfurt; Munster and Greifswald, and Hanover and Stendal.

Hartmut Lemke, North American general manager of GermanRail, said that the growing relationship between East and West Germany had created a demand for more train service.

Discussions between the West and East German rail systems are continuing week by week, he said. GermanRail plans to announce a new rail-drive package. Officials say the shortage of hotel rooms in the east would encourage many travelers to visit East Germany by train and car from a base in West Germany.